Heart Bearer
by Tronnie
Summary: Captain Hook/Peter Pan (CaptainPan). As a precaution, Pan only ever entrusted his heart to one person.


**Captain Hook/Peter Pan-Once Upon a Time. Implied sexual situations and language.**

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From high atop the cliffs, Pan watched the JollyRoger's sails billow through the circle of the looking glass as it drifted into the shallows near the beach. A familiar feeling swept through him and he wondered if the feeling was reciprocated.

_Killian was back_.

The passing of time didn't usually phase Pan, nor did he even notice it much anymore. But as he saw the Captain now, stepping off his ship, it hit him how long it had been since he had seen the other man. Several centuries...yet, like himself, Killian was just as he had been back then.

Pan sighed thoughtfully. Of all the people he had ever met over the millennia, Killian was the most intriguing. He was the bravest and most selfless, which were not qualities one comes across often when surrounded constantly only by wild, bitter, angry boys. His thoughts drifted back to that first day, the look in the sailor's eyes as he pleaded for his brother's life; the determination to do anything, sacrifice anything, for the cure. Pan saw the loyalty, the trust, but the determination and independence also. The man had the spirit of a wolf, but sat at heels, like a dog.

As calculating as he was, it was not a surprise to Pan to realize that bringing Henry to Neverland had served more than one purpose: as a bonus, it had brought his Captain back to him. He was absently relieved, as he always was, that the Captain was still alive. And not completely for selfless reasons, he thought with a rueful smirk. He thought he felt his heart ache, but knew that that was impossible. Once he absorbed Henry's powerful heart, he might not need to always feel so paranoid about Killian's life.

But it was more than just that. He knew it, and hell, most of the Boys probably knew it too. God knows Felix does. The eldest Boy shared a look with Pan when they both felt the arrival of the pirate ship pulse over Neverland. Felix gave him a nod (as if Pan needed _permission_ from his boys) as Pan vanished from the camp. Pan rolled his eyes. If they—even Felix—ever understood the real extent of his infatuation, they might think him weak and not follow him anymore. Then, of course, he would have to kill them.

Now, as the salt wind blew up to him the scent of Killian's cologne, he felt a knot growing in his gut. Of course, his mind immediately flashed before his eyes the memories of their affairs across the years.

The Captain's first trip to the island, some three hundred years ago, Pan made sure Killian would never forget his face as they sailed away. The second time, when half the crew were lost and the pirate swore he would never return to this cursed place, Pan seduced him devilishly, planting a seed in his heart to always call him back. And every time the JollyRoger found itself near Neverland beaches, much to Hook's hesitation and vexation, Pan allowed it to enter, so Killian could come back.

The Captain found himself over and over again drawn to the place of his nightmares, and some traitorous part of him wanted nothing more. He couldn't help the way he always looked out for the sharp, beautiful demon boy who knew everything and was everywhere. In time he became as infatuated with Pan as the boy king became with him.

When Pan realized, somewhat to his horror, that he was in love with the pirate, he was quick to make a plot out of it, to gain as much as he could out of this new potentially fatal Achilles's heel.

For beings like Pan, the Heart was everything. It was the source of belief, and magic, and therefore, life. So when he fucked him, over and over for years, and he felt his heart slipping away anyway, he took matters into his own hands.

One night, in the aftermath of their heat, still in the arms of the sleeping pirate, Pan took his Heart and put it inside Killian's chest. A part of him wanted to give him his heart anyway, to entrust someone with his vulnerability and know that they would keep you safe. But the older, more powerful part of him knew little of such concepts, and knew that, thought it would be a gamble, it would be a much safer place for his Heart than inside him.

As he'd always said, one of the things he liked most about Killian was that he was very good at surviving. And as long as he was alive, so would Pan's Heart be safe, and any violent attempts to his body would have no effect.

And besides, he thought, even if the Captain fell, there was a good chance the Shadow could save his heart anyway.

Pan caught a snippet of conversation: "Doesn't Pan have any weaknesses you know of?" The blonde woman asked Killian, and the pirate paused for a moment in thought.

Something strange quivered in Hook's chest and he thought of the nakedly enamored look in the boy's eyes when he held him in his arms. Body arching and tensing, sharp-witted mouth slack and gasping, and eyes that pierced his with a soft fire that was raw and vulnerable in that single moment.

Yes, Hook knew that was Pan's weakness, as much as it was his own guilty pleasure. He knew he had an answer to Emma's question; the only weakness Pan had ever shown him, and he could tell the others—perhaps help save Henry and win the affection of Emma—but that quiver in his chest clenched in sudden icy fear, and he knew that he never would. Emma and anything she could ever offer him was like a tiny glowing ember compared to the blazing hot fire that was Peter Pan. He knew betraying the boy would be like giving up his own heart.

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**End**

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